Simulated karate device

ABSTRACT

A toy karate device having a separable board or other element made from two mating separable pieces held in end to end relationship by a retainer which permits separation of the two mating pieces when the board is struck with the hand to simulate the board being broken in two by a karate chop. The board is provided with a support such as a block placed under each end and is struck in the center while the board is lying horizontally on the blocks. The retainer is a strip of cardboard or other yieldable material, or may be an adhesive or magnetic device.

United States Patent 1 1 Milliken SIMULATED KARATE DEVICE Paul E.Milliken, 9061 Wall St., NW., Massillon, Ohio 44646 [22] Filed: Aug. 23,1973 [21] Appl. No.: 390,866

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No.359,099. May 10,

1973, abandoned.

Inventor:

[52] U.S. CI 272/8 N [51] Int. Cl. A63j 5/00 [58] Field of Search 272/8R, 8 N, 27 R, 27 N;

35/69; 46/16, 17, 26; 273/102 A, 102 AP,

[451 May 13, 1975 Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham AssistantE.\'aminerR. T. Stouffer [57] ABSTRACT A toy karate device having aseparable board or other element made from two mating separable piecesheld in end to end relationship by a retainer which permits separationof the two mating pieces when the board is struck with the hand tosimulate the board being broken in two by a karate chop. The board isprovided with a support such as a block placed under each end and isstruck in the center while the board is lying horizontally on theblocks. The retainer is a strip of cardboard or other yieldablematerial, or may be an adhesive or magnetic device.

9 Claims, 16 Drawing Figures FATENTED MAY 1 3'97?) SHEET 1. f}? 3 FIG. 3

SIMULATED KARATE DEVICE This is a Continuation-in-part of applicationSer. No. 359,099 filed May It), I973. now abandoned.

This invention relates to a toy karate board comprising a pair ofseparable mating elements connected together in end to end relationshipto appear as one single board but which appear to break in two whenstruck by the hand to simulate a karate chop.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION An object of this invention is to provide a toykarate board which can be easily broken by a young child but which givesthe illusion that the child is performing an amazing feat of strengthand skill.

Another object of this invention is to provide a two piece karate boardwhich gives the illusion of being in one solid piece.

Another object of this invention is to provide a toy two piece karateboard which is simple to manufacture and is easy to reassemble after itis broken in two.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a toy karateboard which is durable and will withstand repeated separations of thetwo pieces without damage to the pieces.

These and other objects of the invention will become more fully apparentas the description proceeds in the following specification and theattached drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of oneembodiment of the invention in the assembled position ready for use;

FIG. 2 is an exploded plan view of the board in the assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded side elevational view of the board in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an assembled plan view of the board used in the assembly ofFIG. 1 with a portion broken away to show the yieldable retainer whichholds together the two pieces of the board;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of the board shown in FIG. 4 resting onsupporting blocks;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of another embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the embodiment in FIG.6;

FIG. 8 is another embodiment of the invention showing a moldedconstruction;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the embodiment in FIG. 1 with. the boardbeing struck with a hand to break it in two;

FIG. 10 is another embodiment of the invention in which the board has apattern of irregular lines to conceal the line of separation between thetwo pieces of the board;

FIG. 11 is another embodiment of the invention in which the board has apattern of irregular shapes of different colors to conceal the line ofseparation between to two pieces of the board;

FIG. 12 is an exploded plan view of another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken on line l3-l3 of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is an exploded side view of another embodiment of the inventionwith portions broken away to show retainer magnets;

FIG. 15 is an exploded side view of another embodiment of the inventionwith portions broken away to show an adhesive layer on one of thepieces; and

FIG. 16 is an exploded side view of another embodiment of the inventionwith portions broken away to show upstanding fibers on the ends of thepieces.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. 1 theentire assembly of the device is indicated by the numeral 1 and has aboard 2 horizontally positioned with its opposite ends restingrespectively on blocks 3 and 4 which in turn rest on a suitable surface.The board 2 is made up of two mating pieces 5 and 6 which fit togetherin end to end relationship. The adjoining ends 7 and 8 of pieces 5 and 6are shaped in an irregular zig-zag contour which interfits with thecontour of the end of the mating piece. Such a pair of mating pieces caneasily be made by taking a single board and cutting it in two on a jigsaw along an irregular Zig-zag line. This assures two mating ends by asingle cut. Transverse grooves or recesses 9 and 10 are cut in the ends7 and 8 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The grooves 9 and 10 are in alignmentwith each other so that a yieldable retainer strip 11 made of corrugatedcardboard or other suitable material can be placed in the grooves 9 and10 and the pieces 5 and 6 fitted together as shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5.The retainer strip 11 serves as a key to pass between the protrudingportions of the ends 7 and 8 and temporarily lock together the pieces 5and 6 to support the board 2 as though it were a solid unbroken piecewhen placed on the blocks 3 and 4 as shown in FIG. 1. The strip 11 ishowever, sufficiently yieldable that when the board 2 is struck with thehand in a karate chop the board comes apart as shown in FIG. 9 therebysimulating that the board is being broken for the first time. Whilevarious yieldable materials such as plastic. rubber or the like can beused to make the strip I1, corrugated cardboard has been found to bevery effective and it has been found that cardboard will not break whenthe board is struck but often remains in one of the transverse slots orgrooves 9 and 10 and a single cardboard strip can be reused many timesbefore it is no longer sufficiently stiff to support the two pieces 5and 6. Of course when the board 2 eventually starts to sag in the middlewhen placed on the blocks 3 and 4, it is then time to replace thecardboard with a new strip. A strip approximately /8 inch wide has beenfound to be satisfactory although this can vary some without affectingthe operation of the board. Replacement strips can be easily cut fromany standard corrugated cardboard box.

If it is desired that the grooves 9 and 10 not be seen at the side edgesof the board, then they can be cut in such manner that they terminateshort of the edge as do the grooves 9a and 10a in FIGS. 6 and 7. Thisprovides a board in which both the grooves and the retainer lla arehidden from view inside the board 20.

If the device is made from molded plastic as shown in FIG. 8 it is thenpossible to use a different mating edge configuration with mating ends7a and 8a having three dimensional pyramidal protrusions and matingrecesses. If the protrusions are of sufficient length to support thepieces on the blocks then a separate retainer such as 11 may not beneeded. The molded device can be made in the form of a simulated boardor it could be a brick or other object.

In FIG. the board 12 is shown decorated with a series of irregularsurface grooves 13 shown in dotted lines which tend to conceal theseparation line 17.

While the embodiments in FIGS. 10 and 11 are desirable in that theyconceal the separation line, making it difficult to determine that theboard is in two pieces. they would of course add to the production costof the item and while the line of separation of the two pieces isvisible in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 through 7, it is notparticularly objectionable and is not readily noticeable when the piecesare fitted closely together.

One of the primary advantages of the embodiment in FIGS. I through 7 isits simplicity and ease of produc tion and its durability even afterrepatcd hard use.

The following alternative embodiments shown in FIGS. 12 through 16 anddescribed hereafter are used on a pair of blocks such as 3 and 4 in FIG.1 but for simplicity the blocks will not be shown with theseembodiments. The main object of FIGS. 12 through 16 is to show differentretaining means for fastening the two pieces together.

In FIGS. 12 and 13a board 18 has two mating pieces 19 and 20 havingrespectively, mating edges 21 and 22 with fingerlike protrusions 23 anddepressions 24. One or more magnets 25 of one polarity are positioned inthe protrusions 23 and depresssions 24 of piece 20. One or more magnets26 of opposite polarity to the magnets 25 are positioned in theprotrusions 23 and de pressions 24 of the piece 19 so that when thepieces 19 and 20 are fitted in end to end relationship the magnets 25are aligned with magnets 26. Since they are of opposite polarity theyattract each other and hold the pieces 19 and 20 together until theboard is struck with the hand as previously described with regard to theembodiment in FIG. 1. Instead of magnets with opposite polarity it isalso possible to use magnets with pieces of metal such as iron which isattracted by a magnet with a positive polarity in the direction of themetal piece.

FIG. 14 shows how the two pieces may be molded of plastic to form asimulated brick 27 having mating pieces 28 and 29 with mating irregularedges 30 and 31 with magnets 32 and 33 respectively of opposite polarityto attract each otherv In FIG. 15 a plastic molded simulated brick 34has two pieces 35 and 36 with mating irregular edges 37 and 38. A layerof adhesive 39 is located on the edge 38 to cause the pieces 35 and 36to stick together when the ends are pushed together. A cooperative layerof adhesive may also be used on the edge 37 however, the adhesive mustnot secure the pieces 35 and 36 together so tightly that they will notseparate when the brick is struck with the hand.

FIG. 16 shows a simulated brick 40 having two pieces 41 and 42 whichrespectively have mating edges 43 and 44 each of which has a layer ofupstanding fibers 45 which interlock with each other when the end edges43 and 44 are pushed together but which release the two pieces when thebrick 40 is struck with the hand.

The simulated bricks 27, 34, and 40 shown in FIGS. 14 through 16 havebeen shown is side view only for simplicity. A plan view would be quitesimilar to the side views since the ends of the brick would have anirregular edge configuration similar to the brick in FIG. 8.

Thus it may be seen that various retaining devices may be used totemporarily fasten together the irregular edges of the two pieces of theboard or brick until it is struck to break it in two.

Various other modifications can be made in the embodiments shown hereinwithout departing from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A simulated karate device comprising:

A. a separable element to be struck with a human hand;

B. said element comprising a pair of mating pieces, each piece having anirregular edge which interfits with a similar irregular edge on theopposite piece. each of the irregular edges comprising a series ofoutwardly extending projections alternately defining therebetween aseries of inwardly extending depressions, the projections of one pieceextending into the depressions in the opposite piece when the pieces areassembled together, in such manner that the projections of one pieceoverlap the projections of the other piece in the longitudinaldirection;

C. each piece having a transverse recess in its respective irregularedge passing through the outwardly extending projections;

D. the recess in each edge being in alignment with the recess in theopposed edge of the mating piece when the two mating pieces areassembled together in edge to edge relationship; and

E. yieldable retaining means simultaneously extending through thetransverse recesses in the outwardly extending projections on bothpieces to key the two pieces together;

F. said retaining means having sufficient strength to releasably jointogether the mating pieces but being sufficiently yieldable to permitseparation of the pieces when the separable element is struck with thehand to create the illusion of breaking a single continuous element.

2. A simulated karate device as claimed in claim I wherein the separableelement is an elongated board sawed in half along a substantiallytransverse zig-zag line.

3. A simulated karate device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the yieldableretaining means is a strip of card board.

4. A simulated karate device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the yieldableretaining means is a strip of flexible plastic.

5. A simulated karate device as claimed in claim 1 including meanssupporting the separable element at each end in a horizontal position.

6. A simulated karate device as claimed in claim 5 wherein thesupporting means comprises a block positioned under each end with saidblocks resting on a solid surface.

7. A toy karate device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pair of matingpieces are molded plastic with each mating piece having an irregularcontoured end which interfits with a mating irregular contoured end onthe opposite piece.

8. A toy karate device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the horizontalmember has a decorative design on the surface to conceal a line ofseparation between the two mating pieces.

9. A simulated karate device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the separableelement is a simulated brick molded of plastic.

1. A simulated karate device comprising: A. a separable element to bestruck with a human hand; B. said element comprising a pair of matingpieces, each piece having an irregular edge which interfits with asimilar irregular edge on the opposite piece, each of the irregularedges comprising a series of outwardly extending projections alternatelydefining therebetween a series of inwardly extending depressions, theprojections of one piece extending into the depressions in the oppositepiece when the pieces are assembled together, in such manner that theprojections of one piece overlap the projections of the other piece inthe longitudinal dirEction; C. each piece having a transverse recess inits respective irregular edge passing through the outwardly extendingprojections; D. the recess in each edge being in alignment with therecess in the opposed edge of the mating piece when the two matingpieces are assembled together in edge to edge relationship; and E.yieldable retaining means simultaneously extending through thetransverse recesses in the outwardly extending projections on bothpieces to key the two pieces together; F. said retaining means havingsufficient strength to releasably join together the mating pieces butbeing sufficiently yieldable to permit separation of the pieces when theseparable element is struck with the hand to create the illusion ofbreaking a single continuous element.
 2. A simulated karate device asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the separable element is an elongated boardsawed in half along a substantially transverse zig-zag line.
 3. Asimulated karate device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the yieldableretaining means is a strip of cardboard.
 4. A simulated karate device asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the yieldable retaining means is a strip offlexible plastic.
 5. A simulated karate device as claimed in claim 1including means supporting the separable element at each end in ahorizontal position.
 6. A simulated karate device as claimed in claim 5wherein the supporting means comprises a block positioned under each endwith said blocks resting on a solid surface.
 7. A toy karate device asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the pair of mating pieces are molded plasticwith each mating piece having an irregular contoured end which interfitswith a mating irregular contoured end on the opposite piece.
 8. A toykarate device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the horizontal member has adecorative design on the surface to conceal a line of separation betweenthe two mating pieces.
 9. A simulated karate device as claimed in claim1 wherein the separable element is a simulated brick molded of plastic.